Just before he ascended to the Father’s side, Jesus commanded the eleven disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations…”. I am a Christian because they were obedient.

Those guys didn’t have a book to read on discipleship. All they had to draw on was their three years of walking with Jesus, of seeing how he built into their lives, how he turned them from doubters to disciples. And I think the trick of discipleship is that there is no trick. There is no program. There is no fast-track. It’s just life together.

The reason you can’t speed up the discipleship process is because you’re making disciples out of humans, and despite the speed of our culture, humans move at a very slow pace. We take years to learn simple lessons. We don’t get things until we get them, if you know what I mean; and nobody can tell you how or when you’re going to grasp it. This is life. It happens as it is happening.

Jesus is leading the process. This is why I don’t like to set goals or have benchmarks with others. I’d much rather hang out in the presence of Jesus and see what happens, all under the assumption that he will speak the words he wants us to hear. Who am I, after all, to have a plan for your life? Jesus is much better at making plans, and he’ll reveal them when he decides to reveal them. There is no destination in discipleship other than full Christlikeness (which we will never reach in this life), and the joy is in the journey of pursuing him together. Anyone who genuinely and wholeheartedly seeks to become a disciple of Jesus will not fail to become one.